Budget offers little help

The Chancellor’s Budget announcements will have little impact on our housing crisis, Shelter said today.

Shelter’s Chief Executive Campbell Robb said:

‘This first time buyers’ package is the policy equivalent of a sticking plaster on a broken leg, and will have little impact on our housing crisis.

'Today’s announcement will help less than one per cent of people struggling to get on the housing ladder, leaving them more likely to win the lottery than be helped through this small-scale scheme.

‘It’s a shame the Chancellor wasn’t such a champion of housing investment six months ago when he slashed the budget by more than 60 per cent. This hastily conceived plan has led to the panic measure we see today, which still amounts to only three per cent of what was cut in October.'

He continued: ‘We now have a construction industry on its knees and the lowest levels of house building since the 1920s. Millions of people are unable to move freely for work due to housing costs, and the growth of one in five businesses is being constrained by the same reason.

‘Rather than piecemeal packages to deliver a good headline, the Government should be looking at fundamental reform of our housing market.'